Uttara

Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other Indian languages may refer to:

Uttara (Mahabharata)

In the epic Mahabharata, Uttar or Uttara(उत्तर), the prince of Matsya Kingdom and the son of King Virata, at whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. He was brother of Uttarā .

Towards the end of the year that the Pandavas spent at the Matsya kingdom, Duryodhana attacked Matsya and brought the army of Hastinapura to their borders. King Virata had already taken his entire army to another battle, so Uttar alone went to confront Duryodhana's army with Arjuna(disguised as the eunuch danseuse Brihannala) as his charioteer. While initially Uttar was confident of his abilities, he panicked upon seeing the congregation of renowned warriors at the head of Duryodhana's forces, particularly Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Karna, and Asvatthama. Uttar dismounted the chariot and ran for his life, but Arjun gave chase and caught him, telling him off for such a show of cowardice unbecoming of a crown-prince. Arjuna then revealed his true identity to Uttar who was incredulous and believed Arjuna only when he recited his ten aliases. Arjuna then took charge and single-handedly and defeated the entire Hastinapura army in a spectacular show of his masterful archery. After this experience, Uttar gained much courage.

Uttara (film)

Uttara (English: The Wrestlers, Bengali: উত্তরা) is a 2000 Bengali language drama film thriller directed by Bengali poet Buddhadev Dasgupta. Based on a short story by Samaresh Bose, it stars Jaya Seal as Uttara, Tapas Paul, Shankar Chakraborty, Raisul Islam Asad as a Christian missionary.

The film contrasts violence, human vices and lawlessness in a seemingly peaceful setting, in a quiet village in Purulia district in Bengal.

Uttara premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August 2000 and was the winner of the festivals' Special Director award. It was screened at the Toronto Film Festival on September 2000 and on 22 May it was shown in the US at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The film was released in France on 13 June 2001 and won the Audience Award at the Nantes festival. It opened the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea.

Due to its homoerotic undertones, Uttara was shown at a number of gay and lesbian film festivals including the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.